Story of Firsts
by Damaged-Scene
Summary: It's them and it's always been them, since the start. They could stray and move away but the fact is they'll always come back to each other. Naitlynfic.
1. First Kiss

_First Kiss  
__

Nate Gray is a cool dude. At least, that's what he thinks. At the ripe age of thirteen, he is built, athletic, charming, and his mouth is _not_ full of braces, unlike a certain Shane Gray. The best part about his life? His parents are letting him go to Camp Rock, the super cool music camp his Uncle Brown owns. It is gonna be _so_ cool.

"Nathan? The bus is here, sweetie!" His mother's voice floats upstairs and he shrugs on his backpack and picks up another, carrying it by its handle. He practically runs out of the room in excitement. He can just tell that this summer will be the best he'll ever have. He rushes down the stairs, slyly avoiding his mother's kiss. She pouts, offended and he half-smiles as he kisses her cheek.

Mothers, man.

Then Shane comes barreling down the stairs. Literally. Nate and his mother stare as Shane rolls painfully down the stairs, landing flat on his back at the base. "Did you guys see that?" Shane's voice screeched loud and Nate smirked, pulling Shane up easily. The older boy touches his 'hawk' in worry but smiles easily when it seems to be unharmed.

"Yeah, man, classic stuff," Nate replies, rolling his brown eyes. "Regular Evil Kenevil." Shane gasps and starts to talking about how cool it must be to be Evil Kenevil.

Nate, being the smart child he is, tunes his older brother(by one year, okay?) out as they walk out the front door and walk across their perfect grass lawn to the bus stop where the yellow bus waited. They turn around just in time for their oldest brother, Jason, run to them with their guitars and his backpack on.

"This is gonna be so much fun, dudes!" The thing about Jason is that for some reason, he's very child-like. Despite being 15, Jason loves cartoon more than Nate and Shane and he loves birds. It's a little endearing, actually.

"Yeah, man, we're gonna rock this camp," Shane replies, smirking cockily. Nate purses his lip and climbs onto the bus, looking past all the other kids. His eyes gaze for an empty aisle. But all the aisles have at least one kid in them. The brothers sigh at each other and Jason goes to sit next to a small, back-haired girl putting on lip gloss. Shane nudges his little brother and winks before sitting next to a snobby-looking blonde that looks around his age. The blonde takes one look at Nate's brother and smiles flirtatiously.

Nate, however, is torn between sitting next to another black-haired girl with big lips or a _very_ petite girl with_ very_ curly hair and _very_ colorful clothes. He doesn't want to choose anywhere else, really. Both girls are super pretty and probably kiss good. That thought alone makes him almost smirk. He bites his bottom lip before shrugging and sitting next to the small girl, setting his two bags on the floor in front of his feet. She takes one look at him before shifting her gaze to his hair.

"Like your 'fro, kid." She murmurs, her voice _very_ high. It seems there's nothing about this girl that only goes halfway. He blushes, a rose pink spreading slowly across his cheeks. She smirks at his reaction and shakes her head softly before turning to the window. They sit like that and every time a new kid gets on the bus, they both look up. When it's a girl, she looks away and his eyes trail the girl. When it's a boy, he ignores him and she watches the boy go past. It goes like that until the bus is full, then they drive off.

"So what's your name?" He tries to sound friendly but he comes off nosey. She looks up from her book, hair in her eyes. He wants to brush the strands behind her ear but he knows he'll come off as lame. He settles for just staring. She just raises an eyebrow and looks back down at her book. Shane, who's only one seat ahead, scoots farther out into the runway of the bus and leans back, looking at his little brother.

"So how's it going?" He asks, pausing at the end to check out the girl next to Nate very slowly and obnoxiously. She scowls at him and pulls her book up to hide her face. Nate frowns.

"Well, it's okay." Shane nods and glancing at the blonde girl he's sitting with and grins.

"Tess," Nate guesses it's the blonde girl. "Is so flirting with me. Dude, so awesome."

"She won't even tell her name." Nate whispers, gesturing subtly to the girl whose reading a book called Catcher In The Rye. Looks stupid to him. Shane frowns for a second then grins crookedly.

That always spells trouble.

"I dare you to kiss her." Nate's eyes widen and his throat is suddenly dry. Shane grins wider. "And you have to do it because you dared me to jump off our roof into our pool yesterday." Nate glares before frowning to himself. He can just tell this isn't going to end well and that somehow, this is going to impact his year at Camp Rock.

Nate nods, pouting and and Shane sits correctly in his seat, away from sight. Nate turns to the girl, watching her nose crinkle as she reads a part she obviously doesn't like. "Hey," He says softly, getting her attention. She folds the page she's on and and shuts the book, looking up at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Can I tell you a secret?" This lie is so lame, she cannot fall for it. But she actually does, tilting her head to one side and then nodding before waiting. "Lean in closer." She does. "Closer," He urges and again, she does. He urges her again until their noses almost touch and he opens his mouth to pretend like he is about to talk and her lips part, waiting with anticipation.

Suddenly, he tilts his head and swoops in, closing the gap between them. He holds her face in his hands, savoring the vanilla wafers taste of her mouth.

She sits there for about 10 seconds, shocked and eyes closed. Everyone around sees what's going on and starts to whoop and yell, egging Nate on. With his newfound confidence, he goes to deepen the kiss, flicking his tongue across her lips.

But the girl shoves him off, sending him to the floor. She yells with disgust, wiping her mouth on jacket sleeve. Everyone laughs and Shane yells out "Way to go, little bro!" as he helps him out. Nate looks at the girl, expecting to see her blushing. Instead, she's scowling and gagging. Nate swiftly grabs his bags and sits next to a dark-skinned boy who's rapping along to a Black-Eyed Peas CD in his navy blue CD player.

He sits there for the rest of the ride, talking to the boy about how cool it is to dance. Nate nods mostly, mind mostly sitting with the girl whose seat is diagonal from his. He can't see her though, which is weirdly disappointing. The bus stops and everyone looks out at the green woods, fresh mulch trailing their way, sparkling blue lake. The bus driver orders everyone to get off in an orderly fashion.

No one does.

He's one of the last ones getting out and he can see the crowds of kids rushing to the Mess Hall, the largest building on site. He hops off, looking for his brothers in midst of all the chaos. Suddenly, he's being pulled into an empty cabin. He's about to yell, but the hand grabbing his is strangely familiar. He turns and looks and it's the last person he expects to see. The girl from before stands before him, locking the door behind her.

He's a little scared but he really won't admit it. Suddenly, she grabs him by his polo shirt's collar and pulls him to her, capturing his lips in an urgent kiss. He's shocked at first, which most would understand, but then he jumps back into reality, putting his hands on both sides of her face again. He tilts his head, getting a better opening and then suddenly, she deepens the kiss and really, he wouldn't even think to protest. After a minute of kissing, she pulls away slowly, stopping when she's only inches away from his body. He can feel his lips pulsing in time with his loud heart and he leans in, about to kiss her when she grabs her bags and runs out, leaving the door open.

Standing there, light pink lip gloss smeared on his swollen lips and eyes wide, Nate is completely shocked.

The boy shakes the initial shock off and grabs his bags, walking out of the cabin and rushing to the Mess Hall in a hurry.

He expects to have a great summer.

Needless to say, it's already pretty darn good.

_So I got a request for a story of sorts so it's not like I'm gonna ignore her. (:  
For some reason, I'd thought that a First Kiss instead of like, a First Meeting because I'm just... cool like that._

_DEDICATED TO MY FRIEND, CHANDLER. (: _


	2. First Christmas

So guess what I've found out? I suck at continuing stories(tic tac toe 03 knows what I mean)! Actually, you all know that. So what I've decided to do is... -drumroll-

What I'm gonna do is not have this story play out like a timeline but random parts in their relationship. Like the last one was First Kiss and this one will be First Christmas. Spice it up a bit, you know? I hope you guys don't hate me. -boards up castle just in case-

Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

* * *

If there's one thing about Nate Caitlyn hates(but secretly is addicted to), it's his Christmas spirit. He can be a depressed, curly-haired version of Edward Cullen all year round but in December, it's all sugar cookies and 'I love you's. She knows for a fact that Shane feels the same way, judging by the annoyed face he's got as Nate sets up their Christmas tree.

"Tell me again how you got a perfect Christmas tree on the coast of California?" She says as she stares at the mess of pine needles collecting on the hardwood floor, _which_ _she just fricking cleaned_. That boy's gonna get it later. But right now, she can't yell at the top of her lungs. He looks like a young boy, the absolute delight on his handsome features.

"I'm connected, honey," He just replies vaguely, turning to wink at her when the tree is finally straight(If she heard "A little more to the left," one more time..) and he's grabbing the plastic net it was collected in, throwing it away. Shane's just observing the tree, an amusing, analyzing look on his face. Mitchie steps in, steps faltering when she sees the giant pine tree in their living room.

Her face scrunches up and Caitlyn grins. "Please tell me he didn't buy that," She murmurs, handing Caitlyn her spiced pumpkin latte and Shane his black coffee(who drinks it straight?) before sipping her frappuccino pensively.

"Oh, but he did. And tell her why, Nate. We all would like to know."

"It's December, guys! We need a tree. It's not Christmas without one." The music producer snorts into her cup because admittedly, her childhood never consisted of a Christmas tree. It's not like she doesn't know what one is(who doesn't?) but with her parents on crusieships every single year and her brother and sister as her caretakers, it was never perfect. They all opened their gifts from Mom and Dad and then they went their separate ways for the day.

She's never told Nate a single thing about what she did for the holidays. If she did, she thinks he'd take her to church to confess her sins or whatever.

He gives her a look and she smiles way too sweetly, making Shane snicker. He moves beside him and moves her head to his shoulder, looking up at the top of the tree. "It's perfect, Nate. Christmas beauty," She murmurs, glancing at his face to see it light up at her, full of love. That fluttering in her heart and tingle deep in her stomach fires up again.

She thinks that if she lives to be 103, his smile will still be addicting like sugar to her.

"Like you."

Shane gags behind them and she flips him the bird, trying not to scowl. "A beauty, of course." Nate bites back a grin at her confidence. "Christmas beauty? Too far-fetched." His hand snakes around her waist, his palm falling against her hip. Mitchie leaves the room with her keys, mumbling about Christmas lights. Shane lingered behind her, voicing his thoughts that he was sure his mom still had their ornaments from when they lived in New Jersey.

They're left behind in the modern, white beach house, entangled in each other. He sighs and looks at her, curls shaking. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you if you wanted a tree. I just.. Christmas reminds me of simpler times, when you would rush down the stairs at 5 in the morning, looks at the red and green wrapped presents and squeal because someone made your dreams come true. You know?"

A knot forms in her throat, her eyes water and she feels her face getting red. She'll never know that feeling. She's 18 and her youth is practically gone. She'll never understand what it's like to beam up at your parents when you see that Santa actually ate your cookies or to jump for joy because the bike you wanted is sitting in your driveway.

"No. No, I don't know. Nate, I've never actually had a Christmas." All is silent and then he pulls away like she's burning him, a frown forming. Her throat tightens and she thinks this is the part where he's so disgusted with her that he breaks up and kicks her out. She gulps and looks down, tears threatening to fall.

"Never? Never had a... _How_?" He runs a hand over his face, visibly upset. She sighs, panicking inside. God, could she have picked a worse time? Her timing is _so _off-base.

"I.. My mom and dad- you've met them before, right? Well, they were always away. Always. And Mark and Krystal, they just.. They didn't even bother asking our parents for a Christmas Tree. We opened our delivered gifts from them and then we'd be on our own for the day. I never told you because.. Because you're so happy about Christmas, Nate! You love it. And we're opposites in everything. I thought for once, you'd like me to be on your side, to have your opinion."

The room turns silent. Her breathing is visibly uneven and she can feel those tears almost rolling over to spill onto her red cheeks. He stares at her, face completely unreadable. It's like a complex combination of angry, pity, sympathy and hurt. She sniffles and goes to leave, turning on her heel.

She goes to make her first step when his calloused hand grabs her wrist and in one swift motion, he whips her around, chest-to-chest(she's actually pretty petite so more like chest-to-face) and smothers her in one of the most emotional hugs she's ever had. She can feel her tears spilling onto his gray(Shane was sure it was white) sweater and his body is so warm that her skin is flushing red. Her eyes are squeezed shut and she's practically sobbing into his chest. They're in that position for a while until he pulls apart ever so slightly and touches foreheads with her. His hands gently grab her wrists and her eyes are cast downward, not wanting to see his open book eyes.

He lets go of one of her wrists, a finger pushing her chin up so he can gaze into her ash eyes. He moves his hand back to her wrist and frowns softly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for," He pauses, chucking wryly. "For making you feel like you had to fit yourself to make me happy, for making you emotional because I know you hate opening up your soul or whatever. And finally, I'm sorry for you not having a holiday that makes you feel all warm inside," He whispers into the air around them and she shuts her eyes softly before sighing and looking up at him, eyebrows slightly raised.

"You... you mean I kept this a secret for the five years we've known each other, thinking you'd be disgusted and you're not?" He nods a little and she frowns, rolling her eyes. "Damn. That would've saved me so much guilt." He laughs lightly, seeming like music to her ears and tilts his head, nose nuzzling hers before swooping in for a kiss.

She sighs into the kiss, pulling her wrists away to put her hands on each side of his neck, pulling him down more. He smiles against the breathtaking kiss and moves his hands to her waist, tugging her smack against him. They pull away, and she lets go, smoothing down her jeans.

"So you do know that I'm gonna make this the best Christmas ever for you?" She nods, grinning widely and he smiles down at her before moving away to sweep up the pine needles.

And guess what? He actually does.

"Caitlyn, wake up, baby." Her hands swats at him and her mouth lets out a moan/groan, eyes squeezing shut. His hand grips her shoulder and he shakes her whole body, successfully waking her fully and making her punch him in the shoulder. "Come on, it's Christmas." He's got this light, delightful tone to his voice and she sits up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She looks at him and his eyes are softened, lips quirked up.

"You're beautiful."

"Don't sweet talk me into getting up, Nathaniel," She warns jokingly, smiling sleepily at him. He laughs loudly and brightly, grabbing her at the hips and throwing her over his shoulder, marching out the dark bedroom and down the wooden stairs. She laughs gleefully, hitting him back a few times. When his sock-covered feet hit the living room floor, he sets her down, facing him. She scowls at him, rubbing her messy hair before noticing bright lights casting at the wall behind them. She turns around and gasps, a hand over her mouth.

In the corner of the living room, taking up immense space, is a large, perfect Christmas tree, wrapped in red, green, blue and yellow lights. There's random ornaments hung on the branches with care, ones that say 'Christmas 2007' or 'Shane, 1989' and one that are just made of iconic Christmas symbols. There's wooden sleigh ornaments and there's puppet Santa and plush Rudolph.

There's also dark red and blue and purple candy canes randomly placed, wrapped in plastic to secure its taste. She looks at the presents placed underneath. They're overflowing underneath and so a couple of presents are placed on the coffee table. He nudges her gently in the rib and she looks to their fireplace to see that above it is four stockings that hung in order, the biggest being hers. It's a traditional stocking, white cotton at the hem and red fleece as the actual stocking fabric. It's filled, bulging at places. At the top, folded over the edge, is a rosy pink note but she decides not to read that just yet and looks at the name that's written on the white cotton with red and green glitter. It says her nickname. Shane calls her 'Caity Rae'. She just knows that he's the one who did the names because his says 'Rockstar' and Mitchie's says 'Beautiful' while Nate's is 'Natey'.

Nate's arms suddenly wraps around her waist and he places his chin on her shoulder, sighing in content.

"Beautiful, right?" He mumbles into her ear, making her shiver. She nods, taking it all in. "Merry Christmas, baby," He whispers huskily in her ear and maneuvers around her, leading her to the couch. She sits down obediently, way too stunned to do anything. Is this what an actual Christmas is? So beautiful you want to cry from sheer shock that someone actually cares for you this much?

"I love you and you don't deserve what you had to put up with for 17 years. This year? This year is different," He says as he rummages through the presents, grabbing a small blue wrapped present and hands it to her, grinning from excitement. She casts an uncertain look before gently pulling off the tape and neatly unwrapping the gift without tearing the wrapping. She stares at the black, smooth box with 'Jared' scribbled in white on the top. Her shaky hands pull off the top and she stares at the sterling silver heart necklace perfectly positioned in the box. The heart is a little thick on the sides and she moves the box closer to her face, mouthing forming a perfect 'O' as she reads 'One Life, One Love' engraved on the side.

She looks up, eyes blurry as she watches him lean against the second couch to the left of the tree. "I... You're amazing, Nate."

"Me, I might be amazing. But you, Cait? You're perfect," He says simply, his features changing to absolute love for her. She gets up, successfully pulling the necklace out of the box and gestures for him to put it on her. She lifts up her low ponytail and feels the cool metal slide against her neck and looks down, seeing the heart settle right below her collarbone. She hears a small click and turns around, glancing at Nate.

"Well?"

"Gorgeous."

A grin is tossed his way and she jumps at him, arms wrapped around his torso in a loving hug.

"Thank you for a perfect Christmas. I love you."

And if you asked her what's the one thing she loves the most about him?

She'd say it's his Christmas spirit.


End file.
